Tobii Technology Launches 300 Hz Eye Tracker That Gives Subjects Room to Move, Opens Up Possibilities for New Fields of Research

New TX300 to help scientists create studies that capture
saccades, micro saccades and fixations at 300 hertz while allowing
for subjects’ natural head movement

Stockholm & Washington, Nov. 11, 2010 – Tobii
Technology, the global market leader in eye tracking, announced
today its new
Tobii TX300™ Eye Tracker. The TX300 is the first
higher-frequency eye-tracking hardware that allows research
subjects the freedom of head movement, which helps scientists
create more realistic testing environments for detailed and
efficient research of natural behavior and higher definition
samplings at 300 hertz.

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“My lab has just started to use the Tobii TX300 Eye
Tracker, and we think that the non-intrusive design and increased
sample frequency will enable us to retrieve more data, making it
easier for us to study language processing and attentional biases
in adult populations,” said Dr. Heather Ferguson, lecturer in
psychology at the University of Kent in the U.K.
“The user-friendliness of Tobii Studio makes it easy to get
students started with eye tracking and helps them actually see
their experimental effects in action!”

The new Tobii TX300 is designed for studies that require higher
data frequency. For example, the new product makes it possible to
eye movements such as blinks, pupil size changes, short fixations,
saccades and many others without requiring participants to hold
their heads still by using headrests.

“We have just started to use Tobii TX300 and we think it
will be a suitable tool for reading studies with children, as this
eye tracker is tolerant of large head movements and works at high
speed,” said Maggie Woodhouse, senior lecturer at the School
of Optometry and Vision Sciences, Cardiff University,
in Wales.

Specific areas of study that will benefit greatly from this new
technology include:

“A normal person’s eyes move quite a bit, even
during periods of concentration. This has always made it more
difficult for scientists and researchers to gather viable samples
at high speeds in normal settings,” said Tom
Englund, executive vice president of Analysis Solutions, Tobii
Technology AB. “With our Tobii TX300, this barrier is now
removed. Our hope is that this technology will give scientists a
more powerful tool for behavioral research as well as for the
studies of eye movements. With the TX300, scientists will be able
to realize new types of research.”

Expected to be available in early 2011, the Tobii TX300 includes
an eye-tracking unit and a monitor, and offers both on-screen and
real-world stimuli setup options. The setup is easy to change,
giving users more flexibility and variety in the research scenarios
they configure. For example, the eye-tracker can be used with a
screen in one study and then be used as a standalone eye tracker to
project stimuli on any flat surface in the next. It is compatible
with a range of applications that build on the
Tobii Software Development Kit®, such as the Tobii
Studio® version 2.2 or later, the Tobii Eye Tracker Extension
for Presentation®, Tobii Toolbox for MATLAB® and
others.

“We believe the Tobii TX300 will give researchers a tool that
will dramatically and positively impact the field of linguistics
and behavioral research,” said Barbara
Barclay, general manager of Tobii North America. “The
unique benefit for researchers of having a tool that works with a
wide range of applications will mean that it’s easier to add
this new tool to whatever research toolkit they are already working
with, without additional software investments.”

Tobii Technology is the global market leader in eye
tracking and eye control. The company’s products are widely
used for measuring visibility and attention within the scientific
community and in commercial market research and usability studies,
as well as by people with disabilities as a means to communicate.
Tobii also drives integration of eye-tracking technology in many
other areas, offering OEM components for integration into various
industry applications. Founded in 2001, the company has received
numerous awards for its technology innovations as well as its rapid
financial growth. Tobii is based in Stockholm, Sweden, and has
offices in the U.S., Germany, Norway, Japan and China. For more
information, please go to http://www.tobii.com/.